Haven't Had A New Cut/Style In A LONG Time

This is a major beauty confession for me. Although I do get my hair trimmed on a regular basis, I haven't had a new cut/style in a long, long time. I've had it pretty much the same with only slight differences since HIGH SCHOOL, and I'll be going into my fourth year of college this coming Fall. Same part. All cut to the same length. It's time for a change, especially since my education classes are really taking off. I'll be observing my mentor teacher next Spring, and I want to be taken seriously. Some people say I look like I'm in middle school or high school, and that is a very nice compliment. However, I don't know how school systems feel about teachers who may look more like students.

I want a change, but I'm a bit of a chicken. I also have no idea where to start! I'm a chicken because I had my hair cut too short before. Short hair is a no-no for someone with naturally thick, curly hair. Heck, I was picked on in middle school just for the fact it was curly, and gum tossed in your hair is not fun. However, that all completely changed in high school, although I was not quick to believe people's compliments. I am going to talk to my future mother-in-law about ideas since she does hair, but I need all the advice I can get since I'm a chicken lol. I mainly wear my hair in these styles depending on the weather and what I'm doing:

Completely down

down with sections pulled back and secured with snap clips and bobby pins

braided pig tails

normal pony tail

pinned up pony tail

messy bun pony tail

To give you an idea of the slight changes, here's my Senior year formal picture by the crappy photographer that makes people look really pale (you should see some others in the year book). I'm a 2010 graduate. You can see how the curl can be at times. It can curl differently depending on the weather and whatnot.

A much more recent picture with my hair shorter and sections pinned back. A new photographer needed help building her portfolio with her new equipment, and Lanndan and I were her guinea pigs lol. It is still all the same length. Bangs have also been evil with me lol.

Here's another recent one with Meat Head. Right as I took the picture, he turned his face to give me surprise sugar. "Meat Head!" lol. Anyway, my hair is pulled back in a pinned up pony tail, another style from the high school days.

Hair completely down.

Another pinned up pony tail that shows more of my face shape. I know face shape can affect hair styles or something like that.

I hope the info and pics can help with any advice. I do like my curls when they do what I want, but sometimes they're stubborn lol. Since I'm wanting a change, I am beyond clueless as to where to start.

Re: Haven't Had A New Cut/Style In A LONG Time

Actually, short hair is fine for someone with thick, curly hair (I should know, I have thick, curly hair) as long as it is layered properly. If not, it will create triangle head. Now, you have a pretty nice face shape for you could try anything really. A longer inverted bob tends to look lovely with curls. Really, anything would look good. I would personally stay away from bangs, unless they are longer. With your tight curl, they will tighten even more.

Re: Haven't Had A New Cut/Style In A LONG Time

Kimmi I think your hair looks great! I have curly hair as well, and I will say bangs and layers do not work for me, especially in the humid summer months. I would not have the Brazilian blowout thing either because it appears to be toxic to anyone who breathes in the fumes! I usually wear mine naturally curly or use a flat iron if I want it to be straight. Yours looks awesome in all of the pictures you've posted!

Re: Haven't Had A New Cut/Style In A LONG Time

Thank you all so much for your advice!! It has helped me out so much! I've also shared everyone's advice with Lanndan and others.

I've been doing some more research and talking, and I found a few ideas online. Many suggested layers, and some of the styles I found that I liked deal with layers. My future mother-in-law also suggested taking things slow and start with some layers. I believe she said long layers. Here are the styles that I found.

The top left is probably my number one favorite. I think lol. Her curl is tight, but I'm not too sure if my curl is too tight for it. Maybe the layers would help with that?

The top right one is very pretty, too, but her curls are on the loose side.

The bottom two are of the same style pretty much, but just different views. It's very pretty on her (I think she's an actress?), but I would be afraid that would be too drastic of a change so soon. And I'd worry it would look like a boxy afro on me lol.

Re: Haven't Had A New Cut/Style In A LONG Time

I think you can pull off top left. You're absolutely right the top right is too loose for your natural hair. The girl on the bottom her name is AnnaLynne Mccord (I gave you a link to her too!) and that's her natural hair. Just google her name + hair and you'll see some of the different styles she has. She's got longer layer styles she's had that I think you might be more comfortable with.

Re: Haven't Had A New Cut/Style In A LONG Time

I'd say the girl with the loose curls probably has straight or wavy hair and she used rollers to create soft curls. Other people have told me they liked the top left, too. Some like the bottom one, but I think that's too short for me. I will definitely google more of her styles!

Re: Haven't Had A New Cut/Style In A LONG Time

Me again, just saw my 2nd post and it's even longer *blushing emo here* This isn't the thing I couldn't remember but you could try clip on bangs, they can cut them and style them to blend with your regular hair. Some can be colored to match you perfectly. Then is you don't like them, not that big of a deal, just pop em' right off. Prices vary, shop around, or see if anyone else has some more info.

Re: Haven't Had A New Cut/Style In A LONG Time

Hi Kimmi, me again. First of all, sorry for that looong post, just saw it and want to hide my head. Tried to 'edit' and put an I'm sorry but it wouldn't let me. Sorry Ladies and Lads. Hope this isn't as bad.

Anywho, *Your hair - Gorgeous. *Your Boyfriend/Fiancee - cuuute. *Your dog - Love him, so cute, can you tell me more about him? * Your friends picture taking ability -Great. I really love the pics , especially with Landon and your pup. I like your hair in the pic with Lanndan, it's polished and stylish at the same time, shows off your curls beautifully.

I think you got some great input from a lot of others, I agreed with much of it. You don't need to lose your length. You could do different Up-do's or maybe French braids, I've seen some other cool braiding techniques, check youtube maybe. That might make you feel a little more polished/professional. Have you ever used rollers, hot or cold, to get a looser more wavy look, that's sometimes a bit softer and looks nice in a ponytail too. If I'm not going curly I use a hot curling brush or rollers, it's hard to get all that hair in the rollers, my arms aren't always long enough to do it easily, you probably have the same problem, you have to be some kind of contortionist. Reminds me, bought rollers from Sephora during 20% sale and haven't tried them, They're $$ should see if I like them, although I bought them when my hair was long, will be easier to do but I won't be able to see if they work well when my hair is long again. Have not had success with Velcro rollers.

You could color it if you want a change up, nothing too crazy, but I feel stupid saying that now, you're wise enough to not go nuts. You could do some fun playing around with color over the summer and during senior year, before spring teaching starts up. I like the Ombre look a lot but I'm not sure I'd go there, atleast not when you first start. I know the feeling about looking so young, dealt with it myself. I think if you keep your hair, clothes and makeup polished looking you'll be just fine. I loved the picture @lylysa posted showing Halle Berry's layers, good call, layers might work nicely for you. I'd just explain it all to your stylist and maybe he can start off with more conservative, starter layers. Definitely find somebody who specifically cuts curly hair. Find another curly top whose hair you like and ask her who she uses, that's what worked for me. I also really liked Ouidad Haircare a lot. I haven't used it in a while, she has a lot more products in her line now. I stopped because my hair was getting a bit thinner and I don't know, maybe it was that or just that I needed a break from her She owns a salon in NYC and has some others I believe, not sure where, you can check out her website. She designed the products for herself and is supposed to be like the Goddess of Curly Hair Cutting. Her employees must be good as well, don't know if they're near you, you're in TX, right? Her products might work wonders for you, although your hair is gorgeous as it is. Might work well if you decided to use rollers. I usually dry my hair all or most of the way, depending on what curling 'appliance' I'm using. I'd love to see pictures with your hair soft and wavy. I know this weather is not your friend though.

I've been using Alterna Haircare lately. Was using Volumizing in the winter and just switched to the frizz-fighting line. I use their Abundant Volume and De-Frizz styling products. I think I'm liking the Anti-Frizz Shmp & Cond, need more time to tell for sure though. The Volumizing line smelled a little yummier. I also used Living Proof and liked that too.

Finally, I don't have to say this, but you really are beautiful and I think much of that comes from within, there really is something that I suspect radiates from inside. Your hair, clothes and makeup will just compliment what you naturally possess. I hope this helped. Are you taking courses over the summer or taking time for yourself? Congrats on your upcoming senior year, good for you. Can't wait to see what pics you post for us and what you've been doing with your nails, I love checking out your designs. Be well.

p.s. - had something else I wanted to say, but forget what it is...I'll let you know if I remember. Please forgive length or typos.

I am very impressed that you didn't give your stylist a piece of your mind. There's a huge difference between two or three inches and nine inches. That's is close to one foot! He would have gotten an idea about how I felt just by the expression on my face if I caught it in time, or the next time I was there. I definitely don't blame you for the tip. I know tips are important, but those working for them need to listen and do their job correctly.

Once again, the layers idea seem to be a very popular/good idea. Some of the pictures I found online involve layers, and I took pictures of them on my phone for reference. I'm also going to post them on here. I've already posted them to Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. When I research and look for other opinions, I go all out lol. Yay for social media! lol.

Thank you for your advice and compliments Meat Head is a rescued Bloodhound my parents and I adopted a bit after we had to put down my almost 15 years old basset hound, Jewel. I posted about him somewhere in the off topic part, but he is such a sweetie!

Re: Haven't Had A New Cut/Style In A LONG Time

Hi Kimmi1115 - I haven't been around much, partially because of feeling not so great but maybe more so because I actually wasn't able to even get on the advice section and a couple of other areas for like...ever! .My computer? Nobody knows why it wasn't working and why it suddenly is - the sections I couldn't get on were not in dark graphics like they normally are, then Shazam! They 'lit up' while I was on the phone with somebody re: it, don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth, I'm just glad that I can get on again. Also haven't been getting any VIB promos, I called and they said they'd try to work on it, hope I haven't missed anything good or upcoming goodies....I need some things but hate to buy without as many VIB options as possible, Hopefully they'll have it fixed soon.

Anyhow, I was so glad to see your post, I love your hair and have the same dilemma on and off, my hair isn't quite as curly as yours though, unless I use product that makes it hard and crispy feeling, I don't like that. I haven't made a lot of changes in the past several years. Until last month that is. I hadn't been in for a cut/color in over a year! (since I'd been so sick and all) I couldn't wait to have the color done, I hate to admit it but the grays just keep on coming, every time I'm having more major health issues the gray/white hair just comes in like crazy It was like a white halo around my face So I was really in need of color and just a trim really, not using a lot of heat/ styling products so what's there is pretty healthy. We were going to take off 2" then decided on 3" - this way I can go in next time and just get color and skip a cut, save some $$ (to spend @ Sephora probably) I didn't really look that closely when he finished I just wanted to get out of there because I was just wiped out. The next day I went to twist my hair up in a bun - it stays by itself usually - Not This Time! There was nothing there, nothing. Before cut my hair was down into the small of my back and I actually had measured it prior to going in. Had somebody get a tape measure to help me measure.......He took of 9 1/2 Inches!!! What the.......heck? Yeah, needless to say, I'm not happy. It just about reaches my bra strap in the back, barely, and that's when I pull it down straight, when it's curly it's much shorter. I have, thankfully, found the silver lining. My stylist may have actually just saved me a Ton of money, I could go in for just color for another year probably, I just have to be super mindful of the ends and causing damage. It's $125.00 for cut/color and will be half of that for color alone, so that's a lot of money, and also spells out less tip money for him. My only concern is that he'll get ticked off about me just coming in for color. I've asked him to do the color since it's a revolving door of newbies who are practicing color application on me and it very often ends up uneven and not applied well enough to the roots where I need it most. Afraid he might pass me off to one of the newbies if I just go in for color, maybe I'll get a trim in 6 months. I just hate feeling like I'm walking on eggshells around my stylist, trying not to upset him, it should be the other way around. Sadly, that isn't so. I do want to let him know that I'm not happy about this major scalping but, again, I have to be so careful, it shouldn't be like this. I do usually love the way he cuts my hair, he's good at curly and it took a while to find him. Do you, or anyone else have these issues with your hairdresser? I hate feeling like this. I don't know if he just was so busy yapping with the person in the next chair and accidently cut a piece really short and then he had to go to that level with the rest of it. I wish I knew what the heck he did and why. I kinda' think he should have offered an explanation right then, I'm guessing since I didn't go crazy at the time he felt it was fine. I don't know how to deal with this.

Wowser!!! Do I sound a little upset by this, or what??? I started off wanting to answer your question and launched into this insanity, sorry about that. I'm going to write another post right after this one to discuss your hair issues. Anyone have any feelings about this?

***Who wants to share hair horror stories? That would be fun.

**I'll get things rolling by saying my guy (a different guy) put a drape over the mirror because I was getting squeamish about having a lot cut off. I brought in a picture of a style I liked and he just got scissor happy and I ended up having hair that was an inch long, Yes, you read it right, One Inch Long Hair (or should I say One Inch SHORT Hair?) on my entire head. Not what the picture looked like. Not happy, I actually cried, I know that sounds shallow and lame but....well...err...umm....I guess that means I'm a little shallow and lame. It was traumatic at the time, I was in high school, luckily it was during the summer.

I know, it grows back. I do wish that hair, from the recent cut, could've gone to Locks For Love, (think you need 10") but since that wasn't the plan it was all short pieces on the ground.

Funny... something just dawned on me.....by the time I got up there was No hair on the floor, it had all been swept up. That never happens, ever. They always sweep up after I'm out of his chair, he has a thing about it. Kinda sheds some light...he knew it was 'his bad' and was probably counting on the fact that I'm pooped out and just wanna get gone asap. - hmmph, pretty interesting to me.

*Any ideas how I should approach him? Thanks for any input, if you were able to make it through all of this.

Kimmi, I'll get right back to you with my original email thoughts for you.

@beautytester - Hi, I'm still here, hope you didn't think I abandoned you completely, will get back to you soon in PM, hope all is well. "Talk" to ya soon. Missed ya.

Gee, did I mention.... 9 Inches???

I'm dealing with it just fine now that the shock has worn off, just don't know how deal with him.

If this is the worst thing going on in life, I'm pretty darn lucky! It takes my mind off of other stuff & I've learned to try and laugh about all this kind of stuff. It's what's kept us sane, well...relatively sane, throughout these years.

Re: Haven't Had A New Cut/Style In A LONG Time

Oh horror stories. My dad likes my hair short. When I was little, he kept telling the barber to cut it shorter, shorter shorter. Even the barber was hesitating cuz he saw my unhappy face, but my dad insisted and I ended up with a super short boy cut, not 1in, but ~2in. I cried and refused to step out of the house.

Also, don't EVER go to get a haircut at a random place cuz you are in a hurry. The guy said he's not sure if he knows how to cut the style in the picture I showed him, but my parents kept telling him "it's ok! it's easy!" and cheering him on as he cut. Let's just say my face got darker the more he cuts and I was staring venomously at his scissor for the last half almost without blinking. He kind of got scared at the look on my face, went super quiet halfway through and tried to fix the cut by blowdry/styling it, which made it WORSE. Let's just say he's probably as relieved/glad I left as I was about leaving.

Moral of the story, I'm NEVER allowing my parents to have ANY input on my hairstyle EVER AGAIN.

Aside from finding a pro who is well versed in cutting curly hair, I think since your hair type makes such a statement alone, you don't have to go for a 180 change in style which might end up being too overwhelming.

Halle Berry's spirals follow a basic shape and length. Too long and curls can end up dragging down and taking away volume at the roots and look heavy at the ends, you can work some longer layers on the top portion just to balance things out, but also taper your cut to where your hair ends up at a soft "u" or "v" at the center of your back.

See how the ends (almost from her arm pit down) taper and don't look as heavy? Her layers also don't start until about chin length and then at the base of her neck, this will allow for body and volume to create some lift in your curls, but not give you an afro circling your face.

Re: Haven't Had A New Cut/Style In A LONG Time

Thanks, Lylysa, and I love that picture of her hair! The hair at my roots/scalp doesn't have much lift due to the curls weighing it down. I've tried scrunching some product carefully around it, but the curls at the bottom still weigh it down. Now that you mention it, that is probably why tighter ringlets form at the bottom only.

Re: Haven't Had A New Cut/Style In A LONG Time

That may be what my hair needs. My future mother-in-law asked if I wanted to stop by the shop this week, but the rest of the week is intense house work for me. I have a list of things to do before papaw's surprise cookout on Saturday. She just told me to let her know when I have the time.

I don't think there are stylists who specialize in curls, but my future mother-in-law seems to know quite a bit. I was texting her yesterday about style and layers. She has been wanting to play with my hair for quite some time lol.